Glass fiber reinforced polymeric composite materials find application in a wide variety of fields due to the excellent mechanical and cost efficient properties offered by such composites. One field, however, where the application of glass fiber reinforced polymeric composites is challenging is that of electrically conductive materials. Many glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic and thermoset composites are not electrically conductive thereby limiting their use in applications requiring materials having electrical conductivity.
Polymeric composites can be fabricated to demonstrate some electrical conductivity by the use of conjugated polymer systems or by incorporating significant amounts of electrically conductive particles into the polymeric resin. Both of these solutions, however, have associated disadvantages. For example, conjugated polymeric systems can be susceptible to oxidation and other mechanisms of deterioration which substantially limit the conductive lifetimes of such systems. Moreover, incorporating large quantities of conductive particles into a polymeric resin can significantly compromise the mechanical properties of the resin leading to processing problems and premature failure of parts constructed therefrom. Additionally, conjugated polymeric materials and polymeric composites comprising high amounts of conductive particles can be expensive.